Kirstie

Kirstie said, “Wait.” and put her hand up and called. “Mariwood.” The fairy came with a half dozen others. Aldean was the fairy negotiator, and after asking and receiving permission, he settled down on Frode’s shoulder. Kirstie tapped her shoulder for Mariwood while she turned on Aldean. “Sir Waldo is a friend. We are not here to beggar him. A reasonable exchange for the amber is fine, and North Sea prices, not what the amber is worth in Rome.”

“Yes, Lady.”

Kirstie turned to Count Duko. “Do you see? My king of a thousand ships and ten thousand men would know in a heartbeat what is happening on this distant shore. But as long as we can work things out fairly, I see no reason to send him word. I expect you will have no trouble selling our goods in the south. You will probably become rich, fat, and lazy.”

The count smiled, a crooked smile. “That is my hope.” He offered a slight bow.

Kirstie nodded. “Just so we understand each other.” She turned to Mariwood. “Would you mind sending your crew to the ship to fetch the remaining amber? Captain Stenson and Sir Waldo will need to look at it, and I am sure Count Duko will want to drool over it as well. If the crew gives you any trouble, tell Thorsten I sent you.”

“Yes, Lady,” Mariwood sounded like Aldean.

Some good deals were made that day, Count Duko got his amber at a reasonably small price in silver and Sir Waldo felt gregarious. He feasted all forty crew members, though in two shifts so half could stay aboard the ship in case Count Duko’s men decided to see if there was any more amber, ivory, or other precious items on board. Kirstie hugged Sir Waldo again before they left, thinking she may have made a friend, and he hugged her right back.

Yasmina

Yasmina was fourteen before she talked her mother into letting her go to the marketplace by herself. Of course, by herself meant having a bevy of young servant girls walk along behind the litter, and al-Rahim, Ahmed and a half-dozen guards surrounding the whole group. The guards mostly stayed back and watched, but still… Mother spent almost an hour just making sure Yasmina was properly dressed, heavy veil and all. Fortunately, it was a veil Yasmina, and Aisha could take down in the litter so they could breathe. They temporarily dropped it a couple of times in the market as well and hoped no one would tell on them.

With Aisha by her side, Yasmina led the procession of girls to the things she wanted to look at. Sadly, it meant having to put up with the prattle.

“Princess, look at this silk.”

“That yellow is the loveliest color.”

“Princess, that is a beautiful dress.”

“Look, these flowers are fresh picked.”

Aisha ignored the girls. She wore fairy weave which she could shape, color, and freshen with a thought. The material even repelled dirt so it always looked clean. As an elf, she did not honestly want anything the human world had to offer. It was mostly a time to share with Yasmina and hopefully keep her out of trouble.

Yasmina wondered what the girls might think or do if she went into the blacksmith shop to look at weapons.

Aisha and Yasmina eventually got to the jewelers in the open-air market. One old man in his booth had trinkets within reach. He kept the real and expensive items behind him on something like a pegboard that backed up almost to the wall. The center piece was a pendant. The stone looked orange, polished, and it was surrounded by red chips in a gold setting. Yasmina lowered her veil for a minute so she could breathe and figure out what she was looking at.

“Princess,” the old man said, knowing who she was. He turned his face away and put his hand up so he might not look at her.

Yasmina felt miffed. “I’m not that hard to look at.”

“Oh, no,” the old man said. “You are as beautiful as I have heard. More beautiful, but it is unseemly that a poor man such as I should see your radiant countenance with my eyes.”

Yasmina huffed and pointed. “I wish to see that pendant, the one with the orange stone in the center.” Yasmina put her veil back in place as the man smiled and turned all the way to reach for the piece.

“This is the most rare of all stones, and most expensive because of it. The stone is called amber, and it is surrounded with rubies.”

“Chips,” Aisha said. “Red emeralds.”

“Sort of all in the family for you,” Yasmina said and smiled at Aisha.

Even as the old man reached for the piece, an arm came over the board from behind and a hand grabbed the pendant. Somehow, a skinny young man squeezed between the pegboard and the wall.

The old man shouted. Two of the girls shouted. Someone yelled, “Thief,” as the young man squirted out from the back. Aisha had whipped her bow from her slip and had an arrow ready before the young man could take three steps. She fired and pinned the young man’s shirt to the wall, even as Ahmed and the guards moved to intercept him. Al-Rahim came straight to his princess as Yasmina walked the few feet to the thief where he was grabbed by the guard before he could set himself free from the arrow. She put her hand out.

The young man sheepishly put the pendant in her outstretched hand. She looked in the young man’s eyes and shook her head. “We are not playing out that story. Let him go,” she ordered. The guards looked at al-Rahim and he nodded, so they let him go. “If you are hungry, the food is in that direction,” Yasmina pointed.

The young man said nothing. He looked at al-Rahim and ran off.

She asked the jeweler how much. He gave her a price and she only bargained a little because she really wanted it.

“Lady,” Aisha said. “We did not bring enough money with us.”

“Father will make up the difference,” she responded while she slipped the gold chain around her neck so the pendant could hang between her young breasts. “One thing about being neglected by your father is he feels guilty. He gives me things to make himself feel better, like jewels and horses.” She turned on al-Rahim. “I want a real horse.” Al-Rahim said nothing.

When Yasmina and Aisha got back in the litter, they immediately lowered their veils and Yasmina couched her pendant. “Now I feel as if I have a piece of Kirstie with me,” she said. “She just got back from a real adventure.” Yasmina smiled for a moment before she turned a teary-eyes face toward her companion. “She had to kill a man,” Yasmina said and began to cry. Aisha, being an empathetic elf cried with her.